Crime Lab

There were several thoughts going through my head as Calleigh drove toward the CSI Crime Lab. My first official interaction with someone while being a wolf was scary enough, and it was with someone I was crushing on. This next one will be with a man. I generally don't want a man touching me, regardless of who it is. But if my life is going to be as a wolf, I may have to get used to it. Well, at least when it comes to someone as important as Horatio Caine. He will be the final say of whether I join the team as a CSI Canine, or be a private pet to one of my favorite women. Either way, I get to be a part of their lives.

When she pulled up into a parking spot right in front of the building, I hunkered down behind Calleigh's seat. Natalia saw the fear in my eyes when she looked at me. She reached around and stroked my side. After feeling my body shaking, I heard her say, "It's okay. You have no reason to be afraid." Calleigh had got out and opened my door. I immediately backed away to the middle of the seat. Her expression softened as she put her right hand onto the side of my face to try and soothe me, "You're okay, girl." I reacted by learning into her hand, closing my eyes. Calleigh smiled, "If you want to, you can wait here. I'll go get Horatio." Opening them back up, I looked at her and gave a small nod.

Suddenly there was a man's voice from behind Calleigh that made me jump, "There's no need for that Calleigh. I'm already here." She turned around with a smile, "Oh hey Horatio. There's someone I want you to meet." Backing away, Calleigh made room so that Horatio could step up and look inside the hummer. The moment his eyes met mine, my ears partially flattened to show how nervous I was. He stood there for a minute studying me. His red hair, blue eyes and sideways stance with a soft expression was his signature look, just as I remembered in the show. He took his sunglasses off and looked down at the ground before saying to me, "Hello there. I hear you helped these ladies find some key evidence." Gulping, I nodded to him. He smiled when he saw my response. "That's really good. Can you give me a second and let me talk to Calleigh?" I sighed and nodded again. "Thank you. Natalia would you wait with her?" "Yeah sure," Natalia answered before walking around to take his place next to my opened door.

While we waited, Natalia had placed her right hand behind my ear, scratching and petting me. My eyes slightly closed at this wonderful feeling. THE Natalia Boa Vista was giving me physical attention. If my human self remained a secret, I'm pretty sure I'd be okay with it. A few minutes later Calleigh came back with Horatio. Natalia took a few steps back so that they could get into my view. He took his usual sideways stance before looking at me, saying, "She tells me that they were talking about you helping us solve this crime, and maybe more in the future. Is this something you want to do?" I nodded quickly, then he continued, "I think you would be a great help. There are a few things, however, I need to ask you." I gulped again. "Do you promise not to bite anyone?" I sat up with my ears forward and a focused look, giving him a solid nod. "Okay. Do you promise to obey our rules?" Another nod. "One more. You must stay under the supervision of either Calleigh, Natalia, or both. Will you agree?" My tail began to wag with that question. My nod on that one was a little more excited. With a smile, he put on his sunglasses and said as he was turning to walk away, "Then welcome to the team." On his way back to the building he called out, "Ladies, let's get her a vest."

After fitting me with a brand new, Police Canine Unit dog vest, I followed Calleigh into the building with Natalia right behind me. Everyone stopped to stare at me. This will be the first time a wolf walked into the police station. Since I was wearing a vest, no one said anything. Though I can clearly see that there were a few nervous officers. We stepped into the elevator to take it up to the CSI lab. When we got off, more stares were seen all over the place. People in office clothes walking around, some in with lab coats in rooms as we passed by. I was so absorbed in looking around, I didn't see that Calleigh had stopped in front of me. I was looking to my left into a room when I ran right into her backside. Or in other words, I ran into her butt. I made an "Oof" sound when I did.

Calleigh turned around and looked down at me with amusement, "Are you okay?" I nodded, making a somewhat whiny sound to try to say I'm sorry. She laughed as she reached down to pet the top of my head, "It's fine." Natalia had told her my attention was elsewhere while we were walking, "She's been looking all over at everything." Calleigh smiled, "It's a lot to take in, especially if it's you're first time in here." Turning forward to see what made Calleigh stop was a couple guys who I instantly recognized, Eric Delko and Ryan Wolfe. They both looked down at me with curiosity. Erik spoke first, "You brought a wolf in here?" "Yeah," Calleigh answered. "Believe it or not she helped us find evidence." "Ryan raised his eyebrow, "She helped you find evidence. How exactly?" Calleigh looked at him, "We asked her if she knew what happened, then she showed us where the killer stood, where he ran to, then found a gun in the dumpster." "What, is she like a super smart wolf or something," Eric asked. Natalia responded to his sarcasm, "Actually, she acts more like a human than any animal I know." "Where did you find her," asked Ryan. Calleigh simply smiled at me, "She found us really."

The guys kept their eyes on me, with more questions on their face than anything. I knew they wanted to ask them but Calleigh put a verbal note out, "We need to get this to DNA and ballistics. I want to see if that bullet matches this gun." Everyone split, with me taking the route of DNA with Natalia. I really wanted to go with Calleigh, but I chose the quieter destination. Besides, I want to try and get them somehow to do a DNA test on me. Will it be full canine, or will any human DNA remain in me? I sat in the corner while Natalia took the swabs from the gun handle to run through the database. The guys had taken the fingerprints to check codis. The computer was still running comparisons when Calleigh came in, "The gun was a match. Now all we need is the shooter."

While the computer ran through potentials, Calleigh looked over at me and smiled. Then she spoke to Natalia without taking her eyes off me, "Something is just off about that wolf. You can see in her eyes when she's thinking. And the way she's watching us. Like someone does when they're trying to learn something. Everything she does are things people would do." She looked at Natalia, "She answers our questions with 100% understanding, she does things a dog wouldn't do unless it was told to." Natalia agreed, "It's almost as if she's a human on the inside." Calleigh scoffed at the idea, "You know that's not possible. I believe in science. Something like that would be more sci-fi than anything."

What they didn't notice during their conversation, I had got up and walked around the table to stand next to Calleigh. I nudged her leg with my nose. She looked quickly down at me to see me staring up at her. Her eyebrows went down in wonder of what I was doing. I just looked at her and gave her a couple nods. "What is she saying," Natalia asked her. "I don't know. But she's seems to be reacting to our conversation." I gave a quick upward nod in the direction of the screen that was running DNA, then lifted my left paw. They looked at the computer, then back at me. Calleigh looked confused, "You want us to run a DNA test on you?" I nodded. They looked at each other. Natalia shrugged, "I did say she might be human on the inside. Maybe she wants to see if that's true." Looking back at me, I hesitated before waving my paw sideways with a partial shrug. It was something like 'I knew I was, I just wanted to see if the computer would know'.

Calleigh picked up some tweezers, held my paw in her hand to steady it, then pulled out a hair. Seeing that it was successful and having a follicle, she let my paw go so she can put the hair into a test tube to start the process. After what seemed like hours, and after getting a positive match on the suspect DNA, the printer signaled my results. When Natalia read it, her jaw dropped, "Oh my God." "What is it," Calleigh asked as she took the paper. Then she, too, dropped her jaw, "That's not possible." Just then Ryan and Eric walked in. Eric asked her, "What's not possible?" My attention was full on Calleigh, whining to get her attention. She looked at me as she said the result, "Her DNA says she's 42% human and 58% canine." My tail started wagging a little. Ryan's eyebrows went up, "Oh wow. So she some kind of werewolf?" I shook my head at him. "No," Eric said. "She used to be a human." Nodding in his direction told everyone that he was right.

Calleigh looked at me in wonder, "That explains why she reacts like a person would. She looks like a wolf but she still has her human mind. The only thing she can't do is speak." Nodding again, I flattened my ears and put my head down. Calleigh knelt down in front of me, using one hand to lift my face up, "It's okay. We're here for you. We'll figure out a way for you to communicate with us. Maybe we can figure out exactly how this happened to you." Having her so close to me, I was able to see clearly into her green eyes the truth behind her words. I took a step forward and practically fall onto her shoulder. Her reaction was to wrap her arms around me. Natalia had wiped the tear that she saw falling from my eye, then stroked my head, "We'll keep you safe, just like you did for me with my ex. With us around, nothing is going to hurt you."

Pulling back, Calleigh said to me in agreement, "That's right. You're going to be staying with me. And Natalia?" She looked at her. Natalia nodded, "Of course. My home is open to you anytime. I'd actually love the company." My tail began to wag. They laughed while Calleigh stood up. Natalia looked at me and asked, "Do you still want to help us catch the bad guys?" I partially bounced when I stood up with excitement. The guys laughed, too. Ryan took the paper from the desk with the suspects DNA on it, "We'll get this to H so we can go nail this bastard. You take some time with our new friend." Calleigh smiled, "Thanks Ryan. Let me know when you catch him."

We went into the locker room so they could grab their bags. I stayed close by Calleigh when she was at her locker. "I'll see if we can figure out a way for her to talk to us. I'm sure we could figure something out." Natalia closed her locker, "Okay. Let me know when you do. I'd like to know what she says." "You got it." Natalia knelt in front of me. Smiling, even though she knew I wasn't full wolf, still wanted to give me a scratch behind my ear. My eyes closed as I leaned into her hand. "I'll see you tomorrow." I moved forward from her hand and pressed my forehead into hers, then I backed away. One more stroke down my head, Natalia stood up and walked away. I followed Calleigh to her car, staying practically attached to her hip. She opened the door to the passenger side and allowed me to hop in. While she walked around, I was in awe. She had a really nice, 2 door, silver sports car. I enjoyed every minute on the drive to her house. A place that I will soon call my home.